


Wallpaper

by AChiaro



Category: Original Work
Genre: Existential Horror, Gen, Monologue, Surrealist, everything is as it should be, everything is fine, you are safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23332756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AChiaro/pseuds/AChiaro
Summary: This is your room. You are safe here. The wallpaper is white.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Wallpaper

This room is quite nice. I’d like it here.  
Sun comes through large windows and the wallpaper is white, a kind shade, that does not hurt in your eyes. This is good, because you are looking at it. You are looking at it a lot.

There is not much else to do, really, so I do not blame you for looking at the white wallpaper.

You should not look for the shadows. Your eyes are playing a mean trick on you because they get bored with so much white. And shadows, true shadows, are absences of light, meaning empty, meaning holes and staring through holes isn’t healthy. Who knows what is on the other side. Certainly, it cannot be anything good. 

But the wallpaper is white - there is grain, have you noticed, like gauze, but no shadows - and there is nothing else to do. You cannot go outside, This is your room. The windows let in light. Do not look for the shadows.

If you wanted to, you could do other things in this place, other things than sleeping and staring at the wallpaper. It is supposed to be white. Remember this.  
Do not think I do not notice how you try to catch the shadows out the corner of your eye. 

At least it is better than sleeping.

Your sheets are white - if you are careful - and they are soft and smell good, so I can understand the impulse. But sleeping is not good for you.  
We all want you to be healthy, you know, and if you just lie around all the time that just won’t happen. 

Sometimes you forget, when you sleep or when you sleep with your eyes open and pointed at the wallpaper, that you have to breathe and eat. There’s food, though, in the room, even though it’s mostly bread. 

You will survive.

Do not go looking for the shadows. Do not sleep and lose yourself in freer worlds than this one. You cannot go outside.  
It is not safe outside.  
We just want you to be safe. 

The wallpaper is white and sometimes the sun paints it colors - yellow and orange and eggshell and cream. A marvel, is it not? There are things you can do in the room, other than trying to leave.

If you go outside -

Well, It is not safe. You would not want to. Why would you?

The room is warm, the sun shines through the windows, the wallpaper is white.   
This place is yours to fill with life. This is your place.  
If you have paid attention, and you have because, well, what else is there to do, you will have noticed a door.

Of course, there is a door. The door is not white. It is a rather fetching shade of brown, which is not the same as grey which is not the same as shadow. Indeed, the door is right across from the window so it is very bright and in no way empty.

There is also a key.

Do you see now? You are not a prisoner here. You are in the room, the windows are big, the door is brown and the wallpapers are white and it is safe here. You are in the room, not looking at shadows, because it is the safest, most comfortable place you could be in right now. Now, focus on the key for a while. Not too long.

This key, a rather simple affair, metal, and a wooden tag, sits right there on the table with the food and the coffee. The table is black. This is not ideal. Black is unfortunate. Black is the color of shadows that lead into the unknown. You do not want to go through the shadows and emerge somewhere else, something else. You should not want to be anywhere but here. 

It is a good thing, then, that you don’t touch the key.

Of course, it is just sitting there, all innocent and tempting, like you could just grab it off the black table and go out and then you could come back in - Well don’t listen to it.

A key is just the promise of a room and sometimes promises get broken. That is always the trouble with keys, they gleam with false confidence and then you go outside and it gets dark and  _ whoops _ , there is nothing there but a key and you can’t sleep in a key. You need a room for that. You should count yourself lucky-

Besides, I did not say that the door has a lock.

Anyways, the room is big enough, there comes sunlight through the windows, the table is black but it has food on it, next to the key. The wallpaper is white. 

You are safe here. You can stop trying to leave. 

I just want what is best for you. Trust me.

Now the room should be more than enough space for you, with the windows and the high ceiling and the adjacent bathroom.

By the way, the bathroom is perfectly safe. There is a light switch on the side, which you should use. Of course, you would use the light switch. Who goes into the bathroom in the dark? That would be weird. You and I, we are not weird.

The thing that comes out of the tap is water. It is very cleansing. The color is from the pipes but it doesn’t influence the taste and it is not poisonous. It is very refreshing. Whatever it leaves behind is clean. Cleaner than before. You can drink the water. It is strongly suggested.

However, I should warn you. There is also a mirror in the bathroom. I know, I know, but we did not have time to remove it, and it would have been expensive besides. I fear that in this regard, I have failed you. The mirror, now, becomes a matter of trust.

Always remember: The mirror is lying to you. It is in his nature. That is not a malicious action. The mirror can no sooner stop lying than the wallpaper can stop being white or I can stop worrying about you.

The mirror is lying. Do not look into the mirror. Your mirror might look like you, it might act like you, but it is not you. It might not even look like you at all. Maybe it will show you a portrait, just like you but just slightly off, like there is something from the artist left behind, too. Maybe it will look like something else entirely. That is the issue with mirrors - they never show quite what you want them to. 

There is a sheet here somewhere, you know, for the mirror. It is white. It will not clash with the wallpaper like the mirror or the table do.

We want you to be comfortable here. This is your room. This is your home.

Now, be good. You can look at the wallpaper. The wallpaper is white. If it is not white, the sun has painted it a color. Do not look for the shadows. The sun is streaming through the windows, painting colors. There is food. Drink the water. Do not trust the mirror.

I know it is tedious to be alone but it is good, too. It will give you a chance to breathe. To focus on yourself for a bit - ah, but not too much! Do not go outside, but the inside is not safe, either. It can be dark in there, watch out. And uncomfortable. Do not go inside. The room is a good middle ground. The room is safe. I want you to be safe.

Do not worry, you will have yourself for company and I will always work to keep you safe. Even if you have to be safe alone. The shadows do not count. The whispers are just creaking, every house does that, do not be alarmed. If the creaking sounds like promises, do not listen to them. Do not give it anything. It is just meaningless noise.

You should not be talking to the house, even if you have nobody else to talk to. It is just a house. What would it know? 

Who, me? Don’t be silly.

You are alone. This is your room. 

The room is big but not big enough for someone - or something - else to hide. There is nothing to fear. I wouldn’t violate your privacy. Of course I am not here.

Now remember. Everything is as it should be. You are safe here. There is a bathroom with water and a light switch and - unfortunately - a mirror. There is a table with food and a key. The door is brown. The windows are big and behind them is the sun. 

You can sleep, but not too much, and you can look at the walls but don’t go chasing shadows. You can stop trying to leave. It is okay. This room is safe. You are safe.

This is your room.

**Author's Note:**

> COVID-19 forces me to self-isolate. I have not talked to anyone in person (rather than over the phone) for at least a week. Are other people even real? Is the world really burning and rioting outside or is the internet just being overdramatic? It is so peaceful in here.


End file.
